Author Topic: Alternate Ability Scores?  (Read 1867 times)

Offline Maat Mons

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Alternate Ability Scores?
« on: May 03, 2017, 03:09:07 AM »
Has anyone ever done any homebrew replacing the familiar six ability scores? 

Here's one possibility I've been toying with:
  • Brains: Rolls together Int, Wis, and Cha.  Well, except for their spellcasting applications.  Those go into Anima. 
  • Anima: Spellcasting now gets its own ability score! 
  • Might: Rolls together Str and Con.  Except for melee attack rolls.  Dexterity gets those. 
  • Finesse: This is just dexterity.  To be fair, D&D was already conflating nimbleness, reaction time, and manual dexterity.  Oh!  But it gets melee attack rolls too. 

Ideally, this would be implemented alongside a system that gives bonus damage equal to how much your attack roll exceeded enemy AC.  (And the Power Attack feat just doubles this damage with two-handed weapons.) 

Also, for each weapon, a minimum Strength score needed to wield it without penalty.  Because, while strength improving accuracy doesn't make sense, it does have a connection to your ability to be effective with heavier weapons. 

So, are you happy with the normal ability scores?  Or do you, like me, think they could use a trim?  Maybe you even want more ability scores for some daft reason? 

Discuss.  (And feel free to list what you think the ability scores should be.) 

Offline RedWarlock

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Re: Alternate Ability Scores?
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2017, 05:46:05 AM »
In my current system, I swap Dexterity for Agility, emphasizing speed over manual dexterity, taking over the melee/thrown attack bonus. Wisdom is dropped in favor of Perception, Constitution for Endurance, and Intelligence for Intellect, though these are more just renames, keeps them unique letters, though Perception goes for ranged attack bonus, and Intellect becomes default ranged damage bonus. (I also use a super-different system that separates out-of-combat skills into a different subsystem, and instead expands the base saves into 6 unique function-bonuses used for anything that would be in-combat non-direct-attack actions. I've considered merging them down into one set of six instead of stats AND active-check bonuses, but they still serve pretty vital purposes as distinct entities.)

EnduranceStrengthAgilityPerceptionIntellectCharisma
ToughBrawnQuickNoticeFocusWill

An older system I've spoken of before used the base six (swapping Wisdom for Resolve) and then adding 'sense' stats to the physical and mental sets, sort of arranged like the NWoD stat-purposes, adding Perception and Insight.

TypePowerResistFinesseSense
PhysicalStrengthEnduranceDexterityPerception
MentalIntellectResolveCharismaInsight

In both cases, I liked switching initiative to a Perception-based check, sort of rolling the 'notice the enemy ambush' check into the basic check.
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Offline Maat Mons

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Re: Alternate Ability Scores?
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2017, 04:36:52 PM »
… these are more just renames, keeps them unique letters …

It's always important to consider how abbreviations will work.  At one point, I was considering a system of stats including "Brains" and "Brawn."  But then I realized I wouldn't be able to shorten them in any good way. 



Endurance Strength Agility Perception Intellect Charisma

I feel like you're close to being able to have a really catchy acronym.  Maybe "SPACIE ," "ÆPICS," or "PIC SEA."  You might be able to come up with something cooler if you changed one of the names though. 



… swapping Wisdom for Resolve … and then … adding Perception and Insight.

Actually, it kind of seems like Wisdom is split between Resolve, Perception, and Insight.  At least, the normal stat system applies Wisdom to Will saves, Sense Motive checks, and Listen, Search, and Spot checks. 

Offline RedWarlock

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Re: Alternate Ability Scores?
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2017, 03:06:47 AM »
Endurance Strength Agility Perception Intellect Charisma
I feel like you're close to being able to have a really catchy acronym.  Maybe "SPACIE ," "ÆPICS," or "PIC SEA."  You might be able to come up with something cooler if you changed one of the names though. 
One of my players said I should add Luck as a stat and do SPECIAL, but then that was a direct ripoff of Fallout's stats. He was quoting it intentionally (I think), but I'd rather not rip off some other IP.

My arrangement was more to do with the way I was arranging derived stats on the sheet, trying to keep associated stats close to their derived uses. Health/Tough is the big first element, so it goes first, then Str/Agl combines to make your movement, Agl/Per get used for melee/ranged Attack bonuses, respectively, and so on.

… swapping Wisdom for Resolve … and then … adding Perception and Insight.
Actually, it kind of seems like Wisdom is split between Resolve, Perception, and Insight.  At least, the normal stat system applies Wisdom to Will saves, Sense Motive checks, and Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
Yeah, I was intentionally splitting Wisdom up in that context, because in trying to de-emphasize Dex-supremacy, stuff that could go another way wound up stacking onto Wisdom, so it was the most effective to split it into more interesting combinations.
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Offline Nifft

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Re: Alternate Ability Scores?
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2017, 08:09:20 PM »
I've been working on a 4-stat system, too. The four stats that I picked were:

Agility
Brutality
Cunning
Insight


They get combined to create derivative stats:

Agility + Brutality = Stamina, which is spent to power Rote Magic (i.e. Bo9S maneuvers), and min(A,B) = per-turn Stamina regen. It's also used as your Fortitude defense.

Agility + Cunning = Wit, which is used as both a social defense and a reflex defense, but it can be lowered by repeated attacks -- it's effectively an ablative defense that regenerates quickly out of combat, like how Vitality works in Vitality/Wound systems, or how Stress works in FATE. Just like Wit, it regenerates per-turn at min(A,C).

Agility + Insight = Defense, which is your basic damage avoidance stat.

Brutality + Cunning = Crit, which is a rough measure of how awesome your critical hits are. This applies to magic, too.

Brutality + Insight = Accuracy, which applies to weapons and magic alike.

Cunning + Insight = Resolve, which is your Willpower. Just like Wit and Stamina, it's also an ablative defense (of the Will type). Similar to Wit and Stamina, your Resolve regenerates per-turn at min(C,I).


There's no magic stat as such, but rather all stats are applicable to magic -- some schools favor one stat over the others, like Evocation is good at damage, and rewards an investment in Brutality -- but it's always possible to find a good use for a high stat.